Women's Tennis Releases 2016-17 Schedule
8/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State women's tennis head coach Kim Bruno announced the team's 2016-17 schedule on Tuesday, Aug. 9. The Spartans begin the season on Sept. 30 at the Northwestern Invite and MSU will play host to the ITA Midwest Regional from Oct. 20-25.
After opening the season in Evanston, the Spartans head to West Lafayette, Indiana, for the Purdue Invite from Oct. 7-9. Following the ITA Midwest Regional, the Spartans wrap up the fall campaign Nov. 4-6 in Kalamazoo with the Western Michigan Invite, or at the ITA National Indoors, for individuals who qualify.
"Our fall schedule is intended for individual growth of our players," said head coach Kim Bruno. " The main event of the schedule is the ITA Regional that will be hosted here at MSU with 26 teams competing. I am looking for our team to post great results during that event and to continue to improve throughout the fall."
Michigan State will host 12 dual matches in the spring, beginning with a doubleheader against Eastern Michigan and Cleveland State on Jan. 22.
MSU will head to Texas the next weekend to take on North Texas (1/28) and UT Arlington (1/29). The Spartans then return home for a stretch of five consecutive matches in East Lansing, including playing host to Auburn on Feb. 5, who finished 10th in the final ITA rankings last season.
"We have a dynamic spring schedule with multiple ranked opponents and exciting home matches leading up to conference play," said Bruno. "Every match we play will be a test to where we are and where we need to be to be successful in the Big Ten. We have a talented team that has the potential to achieve greatness."
The Spartans are a road show for the remainder of February and entirety of March, starting with the first of seven-straight road matches on Feb. 24 at Western Michigan.
Big Ten play starts on March 18 with the conference-opener coming against in-state rival Michigan in Ann Arbor on March 18. Following matches at Purdue (3/25) and Indiana (3/26), MSU kicks off its home conference schedule by hosting Minnesota and Wisconsin the first weekend of April.
After road matches at Maryland (4/7) and Rutgers (4/9), MSU wraps up the home portion of its schedule with matches against Nebraska (4/15), Iowa (4/16) and Illinois (4/21). The final regular-season match will take place in Evanston, Illinois, vs. Northwestern on April 23.
The Big Ten Championships will take place in Champaign, Illinois, from April 27-30.